The Woman’s Owncolumnist has her say on drugs, Strictly and holidays
DAWN NEESOM
SHOULD CANNABIS BE LEGALISED?
Gen Z seem to think so – they must be off their heads!
In one of the least gobsmacking reports ever, young folk (Gen Z, as we call them these days) have declared that cannabis should be legalised. Four in five of those born between 1997 and 2012 think they should be allowed to nip to their local high street and pick up a joint or two with their pint of milk. Well, colour me shocked.
You could have asked this question of any group of youngsters from 1960 onwards and got exactly the same response.
But as this comes with the news that more Americans now take marijuana than drink alcohol every day, there’s obviously something going on here. Roughly 17.7 million people in the US use marijuana daily – it’s the first time since records began in 1979 that the drug has overtaken booze.
Now, this is obviously something that’s a direct result of America’s widespread legalisation, with the drug currently legal in 24 states. But – and this is the biggie – is it doing them any good? And is it really as harmless as its fans claim? Indeed, the argument often is that it’s less damaging than alcohol.
Medicinal cannabis is legal in the UK now, but only to a small number of patients – people with epilepsy or MS, or those undergoing chemotherapy, for example. And no one can argue with that.
The drug is also legal for personal, adult consumption in Malta, Luxembourg, Uruguay and Canada. Ironically, given Amsterdam’s ‘coffee shops’, it is still illegal in the Netherlands. I’m usually a firm believer in everything in moderation, so a glass of wine every so often doesn’t necessarily act as a gateway to alcoholism. Likewise, an occasional joint doesn’t mean every user will progress to heroin addiction. But if cannabis were legal and available as a government-regulated product – like alcohol – would it mean more people would try it? At the moment, you have to put yourself out and deal with some pretty unsavoury characters to get your hands on it. If it were on the high street, though? I’m pretty sure more would be tempted.
This seems to be the case in America and Canada. In California, where the drug has been legal since 2016, hospital admissions for cannabis-related complications have shot up – from 1,400 in 2005 to 16,000 by 2019. But weed-related hospital visits still pale in comparison to admissions related to alcohol, said to be almost 2 million ever
